Fool's Gold
Fool's Gold is the thirtieth episode of Ben 10: Alien Force. Plot Ben, Gwen and Kevin are assigned to Walton to find one of the aliens who came by Max. On the way there, they stop to find a trail of solid gold poop. Having arrived at the town, they find that the locals are quite wealthy. Meeting with Mayor Coleman, the three are told that every 17 years, aliens come for the popcorn festival during their spring break. Gwen finds one of these aliens, named Orb, learning that he was the one who called Max for help for his best friend Decka who's gone missing. Ben and Kevin watch as the other alien students try to wreck a greenhouse. Transforming into Spidermonkey, Ben stops them from tipping the house with his webbing. After this, another group attempt to throw a silo at him and Kevin. After seeing that Ben has restrained the group, the Mayor asks them to release the aliens and reveals that the town's economy revolves around the gold poop. Ben continues to search with Kevin following him. Ben and Kevin end up in another fight with the aliens, with the Mayor -along with Gwen- showing up, letting them go free. The Mayor tells the team that no matter what damage gets done, the town can use the gold poop to fix it. After that Ben -with Kevin following- goes to look for Decka. Because of this Gwen starts to think that Kevin is trying to avoid her. The Mayor enters his barn to check on Decka, whom we find he has kidnapped so that he'll have enough gold to pay off his debts. When Decka says he can't eat anymore, the Mayor changes his diet to meat. With the festival finally over, and all the aliens -save Orb and Decka- venturing home, Ben, Kevin, and Gwen notices the two remaining aliens' empty spaceships. Gwen is able to track down Decka through his ship, finding him at the Mayor's barn. The Mayor attacks them with a laser gun, but Ben transforms into Goop and -with Gwen and Kevin- manages to defeat him. Decka then shows up, now in his feral form due to eating meat. Ben transforms into Big Chill and attempts to freeze Decka, but fails to stop him and he heads for the power plant. Orb warns them that Decka will eat anything and duplicate. On the way to the power plant, Kevin is thrown into the air by exploding poop. At the power plant, they find Decka absorbing energy. Big Chill freezes the reactor, causing Decka to eat the building instead. Orb tries to reason with him, but fails almost gets eaten himself. Ben transforms into Echo Echo, as -due to their species- silicon is poisonous to Decka. After transforming Decha back, Ben apologizes to him and promises that the Mayor will be punished. Decka returns home with Orb angrily, saying that he will tell everyone to never return to Earth. Kevin gives Gwen a locket holding a picture of him before the mutation alongside her, asking her to remember how he used to be, signifying he may have lost most of his hopes of returning to normal. Noteworthy Events Major Events Character Debuts *Orb *Decka *Mayor Coleman Minor Events *It's revealed that Orb and Decka's Species visited Mars sometime in the past and turned it into the Red Planet when one or more members of their species accidentally ingested meat. *It was revealed in this episode that in the Ben 10 universe, Mars was called the Popcorn Planet before its desolation. Characters *Ben Tennyson *Gwen Tennyson *Kevin Levin *Max Tennyson *Orb (first appearance) *Decka (first appearance) Villains *Mayor Coleman (first appearance) Aliens Used *Spidermonkey *Goop *Big Chill *Echo Echo Quotes Naming and Translations Cast Allusions *Decka's Species are a reference to gremlins, which should not be fed after midnight, otherwise, they'll become monsters. Just like how Decka was fed meat and turned into a monster. *The Mayor's role in the story is very similar to that of the Mayor in the film Jaws'. Trivia *The episode was originally very different, following in some way after early Incredible Hulk comics, where Bruce Banner would entrap himself to save the world from the Hulk. This plot was rejected by the network - as a replacement, Eugene Son proposed the plot of an alien spring break, with him later joking "The network killed our last story and we’re giving them aliens pooping gold, so they have no one to blame but themselves". References Crew Statements Eugene Son Category:Ben 10: Alien Force Episodes Category:Episodes Category:Ben 10: Alien Force Season Three Episodes Category:Episodes Written by Eugene Son Category:Episodes Directed by Dan Riba Category:Filler